MINISTER for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong is making an official visit to the United States and Canada next week to deepen ties, Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said on Friday (Apr 26).

His visit coincides with the 20th anniversary of the landmark US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (USSFTA), which has underpinned economic and commercial relations between the two countries since it came into force in 2004.

Bilateral trade in goods has almost tripled since then, and to date, it remains the only FTA between the US and an Asean country.

Gan is set to attend a commemorative reception co-hosted with the US-Asean Business Council when he is in Washington, DC from Apr 28 to May 1.

He will also co-chair a USSFTA joint committee meeting with US Trade Representative Katherine Tai to review the implementation of the agreement and discuss new areas of cooperation, MTI said.

Gan’s visit also includes meetings with other Cabinet officials, including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, members of Congress, as well as business and private-sector representatives.

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Mid-week, he is set to participate in a fireside chat hosted by The Economic Club of Washington DC, where Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong last spoke at in October 2017. Gan is expected to discuss international and regional economic developments, as well as future collaboration between the US and Singapore.

From May 2 to 3, he will head to the Canadian capital of Ottawa to engage his counterparts, such as Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development Mary Ng, as well as Minister of Small Business Rechie Valdez. He is also expected to meet the Canadian business community.

On May 3, on his way back to the city-state, he is expected to meet Singapore companies in New York.

Gan, who last made an official visit to the US in October 2021, will be accompanied by officials from MTI, the Economic Development Board and Enterprise Singapore.

The US and Singapore are major trade and investment partners. In 2022, the US was the Republic’s second-largest trading partner, while Singapore was 17th largest for the US.

The same year, US foreign direct investment (FDI) stock in Singapore was S$651 billion, making the city-state the top recipient of US investment in the Indo-Pacific region.

Meanwhile, Singapore was the third-largest Asian investor in the US in the same period, with S$76.5 billion of FDI stock.

There are nearly 6,000 US companies in Singapore, mainly in the financial, insurance, manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade sectors. Meanwhile, the 200 Singapore companies in the US span across the real estate, technology, agribusiness, logistics, healthcare, fintech, manufacturing and retail sectors.